Everyone Has An Agenda—Because Once You Enter, There Are Only Two Ways Out: Graduate or Die

I recently finished reading Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. This is book #1 in The Empyrean series. I read this as a buddy read with my friend Jenna.

*POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT* Rating: 4.5/5 stars "Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die."

Not going to lie at all I need the next book now, and November can't come any sooner. However, I will say that the first third of the book felt like Divergent, but with dragons.

Fourth Wing had a great mixture between romance and high stakes. This was captivating, and it’s very fast-paced and engaging right from the beginning to the very end, I was hooked! Is this book the best written book ever- no. Is it hella addicting to read- YES.

I found the fantasy and world-building easy to understand - so this book is perfect for those who are new to reading fantasy; Yarros takes what most other books only manage to allude to and truly brings depth to her story which brings it to life. I got hooked on the whole fantasy war school, quadrants, and political setting. This is a book I want to live in, I want to jump into the pages and never leave!!

I understand now when people say it was very predictable because I guessed that ending from page 1 - however, I would much rather have a predictable book than one that makes no sense because it is trying to confuse the reader with so much unnecessary shit added into it.

Violet is probably one of the most incredible FMCs I have read about in a while. I loved her tight bond with her sister, her dragons, and the love she has for books. She’s tough, very strong-willed, quick-witted, and not afraid to go the extra mile to succeed. She works through each challenge that is thrown at her by using her strengths and knowledge and proves she belongs just like everyone else. I loved reading about her journey and seeing her exceed all expectations and break down every barrier she succumbed— there is a disability representation with the FMC (she has a chronic illness) and the author has done an amazing job at showing how her chronic illness doesn’t define her. I love how she shows everyone she is not some frail weakling that constantly needs to be protected.

Xaden is first introduced as the most powerful wing leader Violet is warned to stay away from. And of course, he is a tall, dark- hair, morally gray, brooding type, so I was stuck on him. Violet had this superstition that he is out to kill her because her mother had his father executed, but from the get-go, we all know as an audience he doesn’t want to kill her, he was so smitten for Violet right from the start. That man had weapons custom-made for Violet that would fit her body type, built a harness for Andarna that clips onto Tairn just so she could ride along with them, and also literally made a saddle for Violet to use on Tairn so she doesn’t fall off while riding!! I can’t explain how much I love this man and his grumpy exterior but deep down he’s a big softy for those he loves. With that being said, anyone claiming that this book is an enemies to lovers, needs to better understand what enemies to lovers actually is because this is not it. Don't get me wrong, the tension is intense, but there's no knife to the throat or danger between them. And that's needed for enemies to lovers.

Dain is the Gale of Fourth Wing. He acts like Vi is some fragile little girl that needs constant protection, tells her to leave because he wanted her to be a scribe like she was intended to be not a dragon rider, and hides her away. He was constantly holding her back and questioning her ability at every turn.

Tairn and Andarna - they were the best addition to this book!! Yarros has done an incredible job with providing so many details about the dragons, their history, and their personalities - I absolutely loved the interactions between the dragons and their riders.

This isn’t a perfect book there are some flaws, like yes it is super predictable, yes it’s tropey, but am I obsessed? YES, YES I AM. This story will be something different to everyone, you’re either going to love or hate it, but you need to read this at least once in your life. I can’t wait to get my greedy little hands on Iron Flame, I needed that book in my hands yesterday.

Check out Fourth Wing, and discover the wonderful, yet dangerous world of Basgiath War College. Don't forget to pick up book #2 Iron Flame, on sale November 7th.

Happy Reading :)